Scottish Business Briefing - Wednesday 25 May, 2011

BANKING & INSURANCE

Ringfences 'could have reduced banking bail-outs'

ROYAL Bank of Scotland may not have required such a massive taxpayer bail-out if its high street operations had been ringfenced from its investment banking division, it was claimed yesterday (Scotsman).

Nationwide has 'excellent' year despite tough market

Britain's biggest building society, Nationwide, has said it had a "strong" financial year despite a backdrop of a smaller mortgage and savings market. Although pre-tax profits fell 7% to 317m, this was largely due to accounting changes, and underlying profits rose 30% to 276m (BBC).

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ECONOMY

Scotland heads European table for inward investment jobs

FOREIGN investors are creating more jobs in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe and at levels not seen since the start of the recession, according to new figures (Scotsman).

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

FOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURE

Tasty treat for Lees as profit tops 1m and shares rise 10%

MACAROON maker Lees Foods savoured a more than 10 per cent boost to its share price after it revealed it had broken through the 1 million profit barrier for the first time in its history (Scotsman).

Read all today's food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.com

RETAIL

Amazon job announcement expected

Online retailer Amazon is expected to unveil further expansion plans for Scotland. First Minister Alex Salmond will join the firm's vice president of European operations, Allan Lyall, at Edinburgh Castle for the "significant" announcement (STV).

Read all today's retail news from scotsman.com

TECHNOLOGY

Omega's deal with Japanese giant opens US possibilities

Scottish medical kit maker Omega Diagnostics has signed a deal with a subsidiary of Toyota which will help it break into the US market (Scotsman).

Read all today's technology news from scotsman.com